<p>Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Introduction to technologies and technological innovation in the Greco-Roman world (circa 600 BCE to 400 CE) with an emphasis on large-scale systems: architecture, civic infrastructure, machines, and materials. Topics include monumental architecture like the Parthenon and the Colosseum; civic engineering in the form of roads and water supply systems; early machines of war like triremes and catapults; and materials like Roman concrete. Focus on proper explication of these innovations, using basic principles of physics and engineering, and situating them in a sociohistorical context, prompting consideration of how technology drives and is driven by cultural values and history. Special attention is given to the labor behind technological developments, with emphasis on skilled versus unskilled labor, the rise of professional guilds, and the development of sociological identities oriented around work. P/NP or letter grading.</p>

Classics

College of Letters and Science

General Education — Visual & Performance Arts Analysis & Practice (Arts & Humanities)

General Education — Historical Analysis (Society & Culture)

CLASSIC 52 - Greco-Roman Technologies: Materials, Monuments, Machines

Greco-Roman Technologies: Materials, Monuments, Machines

Students learn to identify historical and societal problems, and technological solutions to those problems.   

Students examine development of different technologies in the ancient Mediterranean from ca. 5th c. BCE to 4th c. CE.

Students work in groups in section to practice skills of written but especially oral communication.

Students understand “innovation” as a solution to a particular problem at a particular moment in time.

Students analyze how Greeks vs. Romans conceive of “technology” and innovation”. 

Students situate technological developments in socio-historical contexts, with special attention to cross-cultural interactions of all kinds (economic exchange, conquest and imperialism, etc.)

Students contextualize “technology” and “innovation” as products of social, political, cultural, and economic factors.

Students interpret and analyze different kinds of media, including but not limited to archaeological evidence, visual / art historical material, and ancient literary testimony. 

Students contextualize technologies and innovations as products of historical events and cross-cultural exchange. 

Students hone oral and written communication skills on assessments and in group work in section. 

Students are exposed to ancient texts and monuments. 

Students assess different ways of engaging audiences with antiquity for their final project.  

Students use data to make informed arguments and project / engineering proposals.

Students develop skillsets for close readings of both literary and visual arts. 

Students work the fragmentary data sets to formulate hypotheses about material change. 

General Catalog

Greco-Roman Technologies: Materials, Monuments, Machines

CLASSIC 52

5 units